20068971 Maruti Udyog Limted Study of Marketing Strategies Mkt

7/31/2019 20068971 Maruti Udyog Limted Study of Marketing Strategies Mkt

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PROJECT REPORT

ON

STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGIES

OF

MARUTI UDYOG LIMTED

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT

FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(2011-2012)

SUBMITTED TO : SUBMITTED BY:

AMBALIKA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ANDTECHNOLOGY

AFFILIATED TO GAUTAM BUDH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe my sincere thanks and gratitude to MS who inspired me by his

able guidance and was a constant guiding light during the

course of project study.

The support and knowledge provided by him has been a great

value addition for me and will go a long way in building a

promising career.

Last but not least, I am also thankful to all the respondents of my

survey without whom the project would not have been completed

successfully.

( )


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INDEX

INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMPANY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

LIMITATIONS

CONCLUSION

BIBILIOGRAPHY


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INTRODUCTION OF THE COMAPANY

MARUTI UDYOG LIMITED

Maruti is India's largest automobile company. The company, a joint venture with

Suzuki of Japan, has been a success story like no other in the annals of the Indian

automobile industry.

Today, Maruti is India's largest automobile company. This feat was achieved by the

missionary zeal of our employees across the line and the far-sighted vision of our

management.

The Company Mission:

To provide a wide range of modern, high quality fuel efficient vehicles in order to

meet the need of different customers, both in domestic and export markets.

The Company Vision:

We must be an internationally competitive company in terms of our products and

services. We must retain our leadership in India and should also aspire to be among

the global players.

Their focus is on:

Building a continuously improving organisation adaptable to quick changes

Providing value and satisfaction to the customer

Aligning and fully involving all our employees, suppliers and dealers to face

competition

Maximising Shareholder's value

Being a responsible corporate citizen

At Maruti, they have a clear perspective on manpower. They see it as a unique

resource, in the sense that optimal productivity of other resources depends largely on

the way human resources are utilised. The basic philosophy of management that


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underlies the Maruti culture is that all employees of the company should be moulded

into a team which then strives as one, to achieve commonly shared company goals and

objectives. To make this philosophy tenable, the Company takes several initiatives.

Inputs are sought from employees at all levels. They believe that everyone should

contribute to the formulation of company policies, goals and objectives. Secondly, at

Maruti, they encourage leadership in the best sense of the word. According to us, a

leader is one who must be impartial, must have the ability to rise above his own

subjectivity, and, most importantly, must practice what he preaches.

Another focus area of the Maruti culture is the maintenance of a smoothly functioning

communication network. Maruti believes that communication channels between

labour and management cannot simply consist of having a labour representative on the

Board of the Company. The Sahyog Samiti, a collection of representatives of non-

unionised employees, training programmes in Japan, Quality Circles, productivity-

linked incentive schemes, and an ethos of discipline and teamwork, all contribute to

the Maruti culture.

Yet, the Maruti culture is one that does not believe in resting on its laurels. They

adhere to the spirit of Kaizen, which states that constant improvement is always

possible. The most basic tenet of productivity that they hold dear is that " Today

should be better than Yesterday and Tomorrow should be better than Today".

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in Feb 1981 through an Act of

Parliament, to meet the growing demand of a personal mode of transport caused by the

lack of an efficient public transport system.

A license and a Joint Venture agreement were signed between Government of India

and Suzuki Motor Company (now Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan) in Oct 1982.

The objectives of MUL then were:

Modernization of the Indian Automobile Industry.

Production of fuel-efficient vehicles to conserve scarce resources.

Production of large number of motor vehicles, which was necessary for

economic growth.


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Core Value

Customer Obsession

Fast, Flexible and First Mover

Innovation and Creativity

Networking and Partnership

Openness and Learning

Vision

The leader in the India Automobile Industry, Creating Customer Delight and

Shareholders Wealth; A pride of India

Technological Advantage

We have introduced the superior 16 * 4 Hypertech engines across the entire Maruti

Suzuki range. This new technology harnesses the power of a brainy 16-bit computer to

a fuel-efficient 4-valve engine to create optimum engine delivery. This means every

Maruti Suzuki owner gets the ideal combination of power and performance from his

car.

Our other innovation has been the introduction of Electronic Power Steering (EPS) in

select models. This results in better and greater maneuverability. In other words, our

cars have become even more pleasurable to drive.

Production/R&D

Spread over a sprawling 297 acres with 3 fully-integrated production facilities, the

Maruti Udyog Plant has already rolled out over 4.3 million vehicles. In fact, on an

average, two vehicles roll out of the factory every minute. And it takes on an average,

just 14 hours to make a car. More importantly, with an incredible range of 11 models

available in 50 variants, there's a Maruti Suzuki made here to fit every car-buyer's

budget. And dream.


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Production Milestones

1st vehicle produced, December 1983

1,00,000 vehicles produced by August, 1986

5,00,000 vehicles produced by June, 1990

10,00,000 vehicles produced by March, 1994

15,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 1996

20,00,000 vehicles produced by October, 1997

25,00,000 vehicles produced by March, 1999

30,00,000 vehicles produced by June, 2000

35,00,000 vehicles produced by December 2001



AWARDS

2005Number one in JD Power SSI for the second consecutive year

Number one in JD Power CSI for the sixth time in a row - the only

car to winit so many timesM800, WagonR and Swift topped their segments in the TNS Total

Customer Satisfaction Study

Leadership in the JD Power Initial Quality Study - Alto number one

in its

segment for the 2nd time in a row, Esteem number one in its

segment forthe 3rd year in a row, Swift number one in the premium compact

segment

WagonR and Esteem top their segments in the JD Power APEAL

studyTNS ranks Maruti 4th in the Corporate Reputation Strength (CSR)


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study(#1 in Auto sector)-Feb 05

Maruti bagged the "Manufacturer of the year" award from Autocar-

CNBC( 2nd time in a row)-Feb 05First Indian car manufacturer to reach 5 million vehicles sales

Business World ranks Maruti among top five most respected

companies inIndia-Oct 04

Maruti ranked among top ten (Rank7) greenest companies in India

byBusiness Today - Sep '04

2004

Maruti Suzuki was No. 1 in Customer atisfaction, No. 1 in Sales

Satisfaction No.1 in Product Quality (Esteem and Alto) and No. 1 in

Product Appeal (Esteem and Wagon R)No. 1 in Total Customer Satisfaction (Maruti 800, Zen and Alto)

Business World ranked us among the country's five most respected

companies

Business World ranked us the country's most respected automobile

companyVoted Manufacturer of the year by CNBC

Voted one of India's Greenest Companies by Business Today-AC

Nielson ORG-MARG

2003

Maruti 800, Maruti Zen and Maruti Esteem make it to the top 10

automotive brands in "Most Trusted Brand survey 2003"J D Power ranked 3 models of Maruti on top: Wagonr, Zen and

Esteem

Maruti 800 and Wagonr top in NFO Total Customer Satisfaction

Study 2003.MUL tops in J D Power CSI (2001) for 4th time in a row

2001

MUL tops in J D Power CSI (2001) for 2nd time in a row: another

international first


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2000

Maruti bags JD Power CSI - 1st rank; unique achievement by market

leader anywhere in the world1999

MSM launched as model workshop in India; achieves highest CSI

rating.

Central Board of Excise & Customs awards Maruti with "Samman

Patra", for contribution to exchequer and being an ideal tax assessee

1998

CII's Business Excellence Award

1996

Maruti wins INSSAN award for "Excellence in Suggestion Scheme"Awarded the Star Trading House status by Ministry of Commerce

1994-95

Engineering Exports Promotion Council's award for export

performance

1994

Best Canteen award among Haryana Industries as part of employee

welfare

1992-93


performance

1991-92


performance


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WHY MARUTI SUZUKI

The Quality Advantage

A car is an engineering product, only as good as the technology used to make it.

Actual users of our technology are saying something very clearly Maruti Suzuki

is No.1 in quality:

Maruti Suzuki owners experience fewer problems with their vehicles than any other

can manufacturer in India (J.D. Power IQS Study 2004). The Alto was chosen No.1 in

the premium compact car segment and the Esteem in the entry level mid-size car

segment across 9 parameters.

The J.D. Power APEAL Study 2004 proclaimed the Wagon R. No. 1 in the

premium compact car segment and the Esteem No.1 in the entry level mid-size

car segment. This study measures owner delight in terms of design, content,

layout and performance of vehicles across 8 parameters.

Maruti Suzuki has a sales network of 307 state-of-the-art showrooms across 189cities*, with a workforce of over 6000 trained sales personnel to guide our

customers in finding the right car. Maruti Suzuki has not only got the No.1

nameplate in the J.D. Power SSI study 2004, but also ranked way above the

industry average (Maruti Suzuki was at 784 while industry average was at 760).

What is significant is that it was ranked above Skoda, Ford, Chevrolet,

Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

In fact, 92% of Maruti Suzuki owners feel that work gets done right the first timeduring service. The J.D. Power CSI study 2004 also reveals that 97% of Maruti Suzuki

owners would probable recommend the same make of vehicle, while 90% owners

would probable repurchase the same make of vehicle.


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A Buying Experience Like No Other

Maruti Suzuki has a sales network of 307 state-of -the-art showrooms across 189

cities, with a workforce of over 6000 trained sales personnel to guide our customers in

finding the right car. Our high sales and customer care standards led us to achieve the

No.1 nameplate in the J.D. Power SSI Study 2004.

Quality Service Across 1036 Cities

In the J.D. Power CSI Study 2004, Maruti Suzuki scored the highest across all 7

parameters: least problems experienced with vehicle serviced, highest service quality,

best in-service experience, best service delivery, best service advisor experience, most

user-friendly service and best service initiation experience.

92% of Maruti Suzuki owners feel that work gets done right the first time during

service. The J.D. Power CSI study 2004 also reveals that 97% of Maruti Suzuki

owners would probably recommend the same make of vehicle, while 90% owners

would probably repurchase the same make of vehicle.

One Stop Shop

At Maruti Suzuki, you will find all your car related needs met under one roof.

Whether it is easy finance, insurance, fleet management services, exchange- Maruti

Suzuki is set to provide a single-window solution for all your car related needs.

The Low Cost Maintenance Advantage

The acquisition cost is unfortunately not the only cost you face when buying a

car. Although a car may be affordable to buy, it may not necessarily be

affordable to maintain, as some of its regularly used spare parts may be priced

quite steeply. Not so in the case of a Maruti Suzuki. It is in the economy

segment that the affordability of spares is most competitive, and it is here

where Maruti Suzuki shines. The recent Auto car Survey conducted in August

2004 bears testimony to this fact. In the Maruti Suzuki stable, the Omni has the

lowest aggregate cost of spares followed by the Maruti-800. The Maruti-800

has the cheapest spares of any Indian car with a basket of just Rs. 23,422. In the


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Lower Mid-size segment as well, price-consciousness is very high, where the

cars have to be not only affordable on purchase price but also need to combine

quality, drivability and have comfortable interiors. In this segment, the Maruti

Suzuki Versa has scored particularly well with the lowest cost of spares in the

segment. In the Upper Mid-size segment, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno has the

segment's lowest prices on a majority of the spares.

Lowest Cost of Ownership

It is clear that a Maruti Suzuki delights you even when you run it for years. The

6 highest satisfaction ratings with regard to cost of ownership among all modelsare all Maruti Suzuki vehicles: Zen, Wagon R, Esteem, Maruti 800, Alto and

Omni. They are proud to have the lowest cost of operation / km (among petrol

vehicles) - the top 5 models are all Maruti Suzuki models: Maruti 800, Alto,

Zen, Omni and Wagon R.

Employee Quality Measures

Kaizen is based on the concept of making incremental improvements in our products.

It incorporates a series of continuous small and simple improvements, which aim at

involving employees at all levels. .

Maruti has won the First place in "Excellence in Suggestion Scheme Contest 2003",

which is the 6th consecutive award won in as many years. This contest is organized by

Indian National Suggestion Schemes Association (INSSAN). Since 1998 Maruti has

won this award 10 times.

"Quality Circles" are groups of five to eight members from a particular work area who

work as a team to identify priorities and solve work related problems in the area.

We believe that it is this unwavering commitment to quality that will lead to the

further growth of the organization as competition increases.

ISO 9001:2000


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At Maruti, our approach to quality is in keeping with the Japanese practice--"build it

into the product". Technicians themselves inspect the quality of work. Supervisors

educate and instruct technicians to continually improve productivity and quality. The

movement of quality indicators is reviewed in weekly meetings by the top

management.

In 2001, Maruti Udyog Ltd became one of the first automobile companies

anywhere in the world to get an ISO 9000:2000 certification. AV Belgium, global

auditors for International Organization for Standardisation(ISO), certified Maruti after

a four day long audit, covering varied parameters like Customer Focussed

organisation, Leadership, Involvement of people, Process approach, System approach

to Management, Continual improvement, etc.

In May 1995, Maruti got ISO 9002 certification. The audit for this covered quality

assurance in production, installation, marketing and sales as well as after sales


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services. We were also one of the first companies in the world to pioneer ISO 9000

certification for our dealers.

In October 1993, MUL passed the Conformity Of Production (COP) Audit,

which is based on a European Union Directive. This authenticated our quality

systems and testing facilities for export to Europe.

Their emphasis on total quality has meant that today they are in a position to guide

vendors and dealers in establishing and consolidating their individual quality systems.

This commitment to quality has ensured a consistently satisfying product and world-

class sales and after-sales services.

TS16949:2002 - A new feather was added recently in Marutis cap in the field

of quality when the Quality Management System of its Press Shop & associated

functions (collectively termed as Press Function) got certification for conformance to

the requirements of TS16949:2002 standard.

As a part of Quality system requirements, GM requires all its suppliers to be certified

to either ISO TS 16949 or QS 9000.

The TS 16949 standard, brought out by ISO in the year 1999, is an extension of the

ISO 9001:2000 standard that prescribes Quality management system requirements that

are specifically applicable to the automotive industry.

TS 16949 has gained high popularity and almost all major automobile players across

the globe including GM, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Nissan, Honda are embracing &

promoting it.


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ISO 9001:2000

THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVE

Consumer is strictly, the ultimate consumer of a product, the ultimate user of a

product; the person who derives the satisfaction or the benefit offered. The 'consumer'

is not necessarily the customer, since there are often 'customers' in the buying/

distribution chain; moreover, the consumer is frequently not the person who makes the

buying decision; for instance, in the case of many household products, where the

housewife may make the purchase but consumption or use is by the whole family.

Consumer behavior is the study of buying habits or patterns of behaviour of

consuming public either in general or in specific groups.
http://www.marutiudyog.com/ab/qualitysys.asp?ch=1&ct=2&sc=1http://www.marutiudyog.com/ab/qualitysys.asp?ch=1&ct=2&sc=1


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THE BUYING PROCESS

The complexity inherent in understanding consumer behaviour has led to the

construction of models of the buying process which indicate the stages through

which the consumer passes from the time he or she first becomes aware of a

need for a product or service to the time when a product is purchased, a brand

selected, and the consumer evaluates the success of his purchase decides

whether to buy that particular product and / or brand again..

The starting point for understanding the buyer is the stimulus-response model

shown below

Marketing stimuli

Otherstimuli

Buyer'sCharacteris

tics

Buyer'sdecisionprocess

Buyer'sdecisions

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Economic

Technological

Political

Cultural

Cultural

Social

Personal

Psychological

Problemrecognition

Informationsearch

Evaluationdecision

Post-purchasebehavior

Product choice

Brand choice

Dealer choice

Purchase timing

Purchaseamount

Stages in Buying Decision Process

Need

recogniti

on

Informat

ion

search

Evaluation

of

alternative

s

Purchas

e

decision

Post-

purchase

behavior

The consumer passes through five stages : Problem recognition information

search, evaluation of alternatives purchase decision and post-purchase

behavior. Clearly the buying process starts long before the actual purchase and

has consequences long after the purchase.


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This model implies that consumers pass through all five stages in buying a

product. But this is not the case, especially in low-involvement purchase.

Consumers may skip or rreverse some stages. Thus a woman buying her regular

brand of toothpaste goes directly from the need for toothpaste to the purchase

decision, skipping information search and evaluation. However, we have

already used the model in above, because it captures the full range of

consideration that arise when a consumer facer a highly involving new

purchase.

MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYING

BEHAVIOR

Cultural

Social

Culture

Subculture

Social Class

Reference group

Family

Roles and

statuses

Personal

Age and life-cycle stage

Occupation

Economiccircumstances

Lifestyle

Personality andself-concept

Psychological

Motivation

Perception

Learning

Beliefs andattitudes

Buyer

Rogers model for the adoption and diffusion of innovations Innovation

Adoption CURVE


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The innovation adoption curve ofRogers is a model that classifies adopters of innovations into various

categories, based on the idea that certain individuals are inevitably more open to adaptation than others. Is

is also referred to as Multi-Step Flow Theory orDiffusion of Innovations Theory.

Innovators

Brave people, puling the change. Innovators are very important communication.

Early Adopters

Respectable people, opinion leaders, try out new ideas, but in a careful way.

Early Majority

Thoughtful people, careful but accepting change more quickly than the average.

Late Majority

Skeptic people, will use new ideas or products only when the majority is using it.

Laggards

Traditional people, caring for the "old ways", are critical towards new ideas and will only accept it if the

new idea has become mainstream or even tradition.


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The diffusion of innovations curve (innovation adoption curve) of Rogers is useful to remember that

trying to quickly and massively convince the mass of a new controversial idea is useless. It makes more

sense in these circumstances to start with convincing innovators and early adopters first. Also the

categories and percentages can be used as a first draft to estimate target groups for communication

purposes.

Diffusion research focus was on five elements: 1) the characteristics of an

innovation which may influence its adoption; 2) the decision-making process that

occurs when individuals consider adopting a new idea, product or practice; 3) the

characteristics of individuals that make them likely to adopt an innovation.


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TARGET MARKETING

Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating

your marketing efforts on one or a few key segments.

The beauty of target marketing is that it makes the promotion, pricing and distribution

of your products and/or services easier and more cost-effective. Target marketing is

the selection of customers you wish to service. The decisions involved in it are

Which segments to target

How many products to offer

Which products to offer in which segments

There are three steps to targeting:

Market segmentation

Target choice

Product positioning

One of the first things you need to do is to refine your product or service so that you

are NOT trying to be 'all things to all people.

Next, you need to understand that people purchase products or services for three basic

reasons:

To satisfy basic needs.

To solve problems.

To make themselves feel good.

The next step in creating an effective marketing strategy is to zero in on your target

market.


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Target marketing is one of corporate America's most effective business strategies. The

idea is to increase sales by first identifying, and then targeting smaller, yet more

profitable customer groups within the total market.

Four Ways to Identify Target Markets

1. Geographic: The location, size of the area, density, and climate zone of

your customers.

2. Demographics: The age, gender, income, family composition and size,

occupation, and education of your customers.

3. Psychographics: The general personality, behavior, life-style, rate of

use, repetition of need, benefits sought, and loyalty characteristics of

your customers.

4. Behaviors: The needs they seek to fulfill, the level of knowledge,

information sources, attitude, use or response to a product of your

customers.

TARGET MARKETING

Who are your best customers? Where should you direct your marketing

activities?

Where and how should you allocate your advertising and promotional efforts?

Target Marketing, provides Focus for your business. It helps to establish

critical Operational goals and defines what must be done to achieve them

What Customers Want

Marketing is more than an activity, it is an attitude

Instead of trying to get customers to buy what the firm likes to make, or

happens to have on hand, the marketing oriented firm tries to produce or

sell what its customers want which can be sold at a profit.


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Do not simply throw out everything that you now have and replace goods or

production machinery with completely new items.

Customer Attitudes

For a long time, people have believed that advertising can be used to change people's

minds about what they want. This is an incredibly difficult process at best, and an

extremely expensive one. Because of these two factors, it is a process that smaller

firms simply cannot afford to pursue. Once they have identified the actual

prevailing attitudes, they can begin to organize company resources needed to

constructively address and satisfy these attitudes the key question is,"What

are the existing customer attitudes?"

Target Marketing


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Comparison of Automobile And Consumer

Durable

At Dealership LevelS.No Attributes Automobile Consumer Durables

1 Turnover High Low

2 Margin 8%-12% 2%-4%

3PenetrationLevel

More in small or largetowns or cities

More in Rural areasor in cities also

4

Training ofSales

Executives

Executives get Trainingafter every specific

period As such no training

5 Supply-Chain Co->Dealer->CustomerCo->Distributor->Dealer >Customer

6 Discount Margin CartelDepends on DealerTo Dealer

7 CSR Proper well organized

Only Sales man isthere to serve thecustomer

8 ASSCustomer get 3freeservice

Customer have to goat manufactured level

9BrandAssociation

Customer first choice ismore pertinent

Customer canchange his or herchoice

10 Payment Instantaneous PaymentMore focus onFinance & Installment

11

Post-Sales

Follow UP More Very Less

12BuyingProcedure

Customer can wait fornew model Instant buying

13 Database Large Few

14BrandTransition Single-Tier Multi-Tier

15 Advertisement

Parent Company &dealer both give

advertisement

Only from Parent

Company


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16LoyalityPrograms Yes No

17

CustomerSatisfactionIndex

Well- Defined &Organized None

18 Promotion Free Service Camps None

19CustomerRetention More Very Less

20 Maintenance

Only free service whichcustomer can extendupto 4 years(first 2yr are

free)

Annual Maintenance

Contract (AMC)


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OBJECTIVE OF THE COMPANY

Marutis marketing objective is to continually offer the customer new products

and services that:

Reduce the customers cost of ownership of their cars; and

anticipate and address the customers needs and preferences in all

aspects and stages of car ownership, to provide what they refer to as the

360 degree customer experience.

They sell ten models with more than 50 variants in segments A, B, C, and

utility vehicle segment of the Indian passenger car market. Of these, they

manufacture nine models and import the Grand Vitara as a completely built unit

from Suzuki in Japan. For example, the version of the Maruti 800 brand

currently sold in the market is a significantly upgraded version, in terms of

technology, design and styling, of the Maruti 800 launched in 1983.

A Maruti 800

A OMNI

B Zen

B Wagon R

B Alto

C Esteem

C Baleno

C Versa

C SWIFT

Utility Vehicle GYPSY KING

Utility Vehicle GRAND VITARA


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BALENO

WAGON R


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ESTEEM

MARUTI 800


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NEW ALTO

OMNI


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SWIFT

VERSA


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ZEN


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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The nature of the project work has been exploratory as no hypothesis, is

taken to be tested. Though the conclusions drawn could be taken as the

hypothesis and further tested by the research work undertaken in the relevant

field. The reason for choosing the exploratory research design is the fact the

project report has been primarily based upon the secondary sources of data

and whose authenticity could be assured of.

The reluctance of the company's personnel in parting with much of

information led the project report to be based substantially on the secondary

source of data. The sources of data used in data collection are the following:

Primary sources

In order to gather information about the various products, I personally

visited a number of retail markets and collected data pertaining to the prices

of the products offered. The market visits were useful in knowing thecomparative prices and quality of the offered brands vis--vis the

competitive brands. Detail regarding the packaging of the products were

collected were collected and I also inquired about the various sales

promotion schemes followed by the three companies.

By interviewing these retailers valuable information was collected. I

inquired from them about their marketing advertising and distribution

strategies.


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Secondary sources

Information was collected from secondary sources such as public libraries,

newspapers, business magazines.

Beside these the use of Internet was also made in collecting relevant

information. The data collected from the above mentioned sources has been

adequately structured and used at appropriate places in the report. This

particular way of data collection was used because of its low cost (except

data collected through surfing the internet) and less time consumption.

The information gathered included:

Their annual reports (Procter & Gamble and Johnson and Johnson).

Pamphlets.

Posters.

Press clippings.

News releases.

Newsletters.

Pictures.


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FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

PRICES OF MARUTI PRODUCTS

Car market leader Maruti Udyog Limited has announced a marginal increase in price

of certain models. The increase, which comes into effect from today, varies from 0.17

percent to 1.47 percent.

The price increase is due to rise in input costs and freight costs, which

increased following the rise in oil prices. In this phase, the company has

decided to pass on only a part of the increase in costs to the customers. There

is no change in the prices of Swift, Zen, Baleno (Vxi) and WagonR (Petrol).

Ex-Showroom Prices in Delhi (in Rs)

Model New Old IncreaseChang

e %M800 Std 191646 191146 500 0.26%M800 Std Ac 213062 212562 500 0.24%

Alto Std 231585 231085 500 0.22%Alto Lx 265262 264762 500 0.19%Alto Lxi 283878 283378 500 0.18%Omni Cargo LPG 194725 192725 2000 1.04%Omni Cargo 213706 213206 500 0.23%Omni (Eight Seater) 221268 220768 500 0.23%Omni LPG 230388 227388 3000 1.32%Esteem Lx 445968 444968 1000 0.22%Esteem Lxi 476223 475223 1000 0.21%Esteem Vxi 511520 510520 1000 0.20%

Baleno Lxi 576173 575173 1000 0.17%Versa Dx 433575 432575 1000 0.23%Versa Dx2 471779 470779 1000 0.21%Versa Std 360182 359182 1000 0.28%WagonR Lx LPG 345106 340106 5000 1.47%WagonR Lxi LPG 373160 368160 5000 1.36%


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ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AT MUL

Maruti Udyog ltd. Has a flat organisation structure with a maximum of three levels.

Head office

MD

MFG FIN OTHER

DIRECTOR N CONTROLLER GM DGMS AGMS

GM/ DGMS DGMS AGMS MGRS/AMS

MGRS/AMS MGRS/AM SR GM/EX

ENGINEERS(EX) SR. EX./EX TRAINEES

J.E. (TRAINEES)


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THE PRODUCTION PROCESS AT MARUTI

STEEL COILS

BLANKING

PRESSING

WELDING

PAINTING

ASSEMBLY

VEHICLEINSPECTION

TEST RUN

SUPPLY &DISPATCH

FROMVENDOR

S

FROMVENDOR

S

FROMVENDOR

S


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INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

In August, 2003 Maruti crossed a milestone of exporting 300,000 vehicles since its

first export in 1986. Europe is the largest destination of Marutis exports and

coincidentally after the first commercial shipment of 480 units to Hungary in 1987, the

300,00 mark was crossed by the shipment of 571 units to the same country. The top

ten destinations of the cumulative exports have been Netherlands, Italy, Germany,

Chile, U.K., Hungary, Nepal, Greece, France and Poland in that order.

The Alto, which meets the Euro-3 norms, has been very popular in Europe where a

landmark 200,000 vehicle were exported till March 2003. Even in the highly

developed and competitive markets of Netherlands, UK, Germany, France and Italy

Maruti vehicles have made a mark. Though the main market for the Maruti vehicles is

Europe, where it is selling over 70% of its exported quantity, it is exporting in over 70

countries.

Maruti has entered some unconventional markets like Angola, Benin, Djibouti,

Ethiopia, Morocco, Uganda, Chile, Costa Rica and El Salvador. The Middle-East

region has also opened up and is showing good potential for growth. Some markets in

this region where Maruti is, are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and UAE.

The markets outside of Europe that have large quantities, in the current year, are

Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Srilanka and Bangladesh. Maruti exported more than 51,000

vehicles in 2003-04 which was 59% higher than last year. In the financial year 2003-

04 Maruti exports contributed to more than 10% of total Maruti sales.


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MARUTI ALL INDIA SALES 3 YR TREND

Segment 2003-04

Growth

2004-05 Growth

2005-06

Growth

A1 (Mini - Hatchback) 167,561 17% 116,262 -31% 89,223 -23%A2 (Compact - Hatchback) 176,132 47% 271,280 54% 335,136 24%A3 (Mid Size) 14,173 28% 29,637 109% 31,939 8%A4/A5/A6(Exec./Prem./Luxury)

NA NA NA NA NA NA

C (Van Type) 59,526 15% 65,019 9% 66,366 2%

Passenger Cars - MUL 417,392

28% 482,198 16% 522,664

8%

Passenger Cars - TotalIndustry

758,123

26% 885,029 17% 948,669

7%

MUV (Utility Vehicles) 3,555 12% 5,204 46% 4,374 -16%Passenger Vehicles - MUL 420,94

728% 487,402 16% 527,03

88%

Passenger Vehicles - TotalIndustry

901,150

24% 1,050,246

17% 1,129,316

8%


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MARKET SHARE

2005-06 Market Share-Segment A2

TATA

20%

HYUNDAI

21%MARUTI

59%

2005-06 Market Share-Segment A3

TATA

20%

FORD

14%

GM

6%HONDA

20%

OTHERS

7%

MARUTI

17%

HYUNDAI

16%

2005-06 Market Share-Passenger Cars

TOYOTA

1%

OTHERS

3%

FORD

3%

GM

1%

HONDA

4%

TATA

16%

MARUTI

55%

HYUNDAI

17%


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COMPETITION MODELS

SEGMENTMaruti Competition

A1 (Mini -Hatchback)

M800

A2 (Compact -Hatchback)

Zen, WagonR,Alto, Swift

Hyundai - Santro & Getz; Tata -Indica & Palio; GM - Corsa Sail

A3 (Mid Size) Esteem,Baleno

Hyundai - Accent; Tata - Indigo &Petra; Honda - City; GM - Corsa,

Optra, & Aveo; Ford - Ikon, Fusion,& Fiesta

A4/A5/A6

(Exec./Prem./Luxury)

Hyundai - Elantra & Sonata; Honda

- Accord; GM - Vectra; Ford -Mondeo; Skoda - Octavia &

Superb; Toyota - Corolla & Camry;Daimler Chrysler - C,E, & S Class;

C (Van Type) Omni, VersaMUV (Utility

Vehicles)Gypsy, Grand

VitaraMitsubishi - Pajero; Hyundai -Terracan & Tucson; Ford -Endeavor; Toyota - Prado &

Innova; Nissan - X Trail; Honda -CRV; GM - Forrester & Tavera;

Tata - Sumo & Safari; Mahindra -Jeeps, Scorpio, & Bolero


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-

COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS

MUL believes that they are well positioned to maintain and enhance their leadership

position in the small car segment in India, while continuing to offer products in most

segments of the Indian market, on account of their competitive strengths, which

include the following:

Expertise in small car technology: As a subsidiary of Suzuki, they have

access to globally respected technology in the small car segment. They have the

advantage of Suzukis expertise in all aspects of small car technology and

design, with respect to their products, their manufacturing processes and

business practices, the development of their supply chain and the training of

their personnel.

Extensive product portfolio: Their diverse product range includes cars in

segments A, B and C, and utility vehicles. They manufactured five out of the

ten models that were sold in the combined A and B segments in India in fiscal

2002. The Omni, a versatile vehicle that can seat more passengers than the

Maruti 800 or be used as an ambulance or cargo vehicle, had a market share of

10.5% in fiscal 2002. They are also the only manufacturer to sell three distinct

models, the Zen, the Alto and the Wagon R, in segment B (priced between

Rs.300,000 and Rs.500,000).

Quality products: In November 2001, they were one of the first automobile

manufacturers in the world to receive the ISO 9001:2000 certification. They

began to export products in 1988, primarily in order to benchmark our products

against international quality standards.

Extensive sales and service network: They believe that they have the largest

network of dealers and service centers amongst car manufacturers in India. As

of March 31, 2003, we had 178 authorized dealers with 243 sales outlets in 161

cities. They estimate their car parc to be in excess of 3.5 million vehicles.


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Brand strength: They have been present in the Indian market for almost

twenty years and have built their brand on the basis of the values of trust and

reliability. Most of their principal competitors have been present in the Indian

passenger car market for a significantly shorter period. Certain manufacturers

have ceased to manufacture certain products shortly after introducing them, or

have left the market altogether. In contrast, they continue to support the

maintenance of their products. This has contributed to the strength of their

brand. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, J. D. Power Asia Pacific, Inc. ranked us No. 1

in the India Customer Satisfaction Index, which assesses customer satisfaction

with product quality and dealer service.

Integrated manufacturing facility: Their manufacturing facility comprises

three integrated plants with flexible assembly lines located at Gurgaon in the

northern state of Haryana. Their facility has advanced engineering capability

and each plant is upgraded on an ongoing basis to improve productivity and

quality. As a result, their first plant set up in fiscal 1984 is technologically at

par with their newer plants and is also used in the production of their new

models.

Strong vendor base and higher rates of localization: They work closely with

their vendor base for the supply of raw materials, components and spare parts

of their products. In order to improve quality and generate economies of scale,

they have reduced the number of their vendors of components in India from 370

as of March 31, 2000 to 299 as of March 31, 2003, and intend to continue to

reduce the number of our vendors. 113 of their vendors at March 31, 2003 were

in technical collaboration with foreign entities. models over time. This has

helped them reduce the cost of their components.

Skilled labour and experienced management: Thei highly skilled labour force

has become increasingly productive in terms of vehicles produced per employee

and receives training on an ongoing basis, including training by Suzuki. As of

March 31, 2003, 1,900 of their employees had been trained at Suzukis facilities

in Japan.


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BUSINESS STRATEGY

They intend to continue to focus on the small car segment, while offering

products in most segments of the Indian passenger car market. They aim to

achieve their principal objectives by pursuing the following business strategies:

Maintain and enhance their product range: They intend to utilize Suzukis

expertise in small car technology to produce new variants of their existing

models and to upgrade their products with contemporary technology and

features.

Secure repeat purchases by offering a 360 degree customer experience :

On the basis of their belief that securing repeat purchases from an existing

customer requires less expenditure than acquiring a new customer, they aim to

provide customers with a one-stop shop for automobiles and automobile-

related products and services.

Continue to benchmark their manufacturing capabilities: They plan to

continue to benchmark our manufacturing capabilities with the most efficient

car manufacturing facilities of Suzuki and its subsidiaries.

Continue to reduce costs to offer more competitive products:

Cost competitiveness has been, and continues to be, central to their strategy as

the leading manufacturer in the small car segment to expand the size of the

market by offering competitively priced, high quality products. The components

of this strategy are:

Higher levels of localization

Vendor participation in cost reduction

Cost reduction on warranties

Lower cost of ownership:


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Through their business strategies, they seek to reduce the consumers cost of

ownership of their cars, which comprises the cost of purchase, the cost of fuel

and maintenance, including spare parts and repairs, during the life of the

vehicle, insurance, and resale value.

SALES NETWORK

Dealers: They offer their products to the customer through a network of 178

authorized dealers with 243 sales outlets across 161 cities. Their dealers

employed more than 3,500 sales executives. They are linked to their sales

network through their secure extranet-based information network. The sales of

their spares, accessories and automobile-related services such as insurance and

finance serve as additional sources of revenue for our dealers.

Agreements with dealers: They generally appoint a limited number of dealers

for a certain geographical territory. Their dealers provide services to customers

such as pre-delivery inspection of vehicles, sales of cars, after sales service,

supply of spare parts and other services that promote sales of cars within the

territory for which they are appointed. Their agreements with their dealers

usually have terms of five years. These agreements are generally renewable for

successive terms of three years, by mutual agreement.

Enhancing dealer performance: Their central office in Delhi, their regional

offices and their area offices monitor and assist their dealer network. They havenine regional offices, five area offices and 187 sales and marketing personnel.

They reward dealers who perform well on the Balanced Scorecard with a cash

payment at the end of the fiscal year. They believe that the Balanced

Scorecard serves as an effective incentive for dealers to enhance their

performance.

Dealer training: They have established standard operating procedures,

showroom ambience and service quality standards for dealerships. They provideperiodic training through their training centres located at their manufacturing


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facility and at Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Pune. They have trained more

than 2,600 and 3,400 dealer sales personnel. Their subsidiary, True Value

Solutions Ltd., provides value-added services, such as manpower recruitment

and training, to their dealers.

AFTER-SALES SERVICE

As on date there are 342 Maruti dealer workshops and 1,545 Maruti Authorised

Service Stations, or MASSs, covering 898 cities in India. In addition, 24-hour

mobile service is offered in 38 cities under the brand Maruti On-road Service.

They have service stations on 30 highways in India under the brand Express

Service Stations.

To promote sales of their spare parts and the availability of high quality,

reliable spare parts for their products, they sell spares under the brand name

Maruti Genuine Parts, or MGP.

In order to increase the penetration, in terms of sales volumes, of their products

in these remote areas, they are exploring opportunities to integrate some of the

MASSs into the sales process in order to increase sales of their cars and related

products and services such as spares and accessories, insurance and financing.

They have also entered the business of marketing car accessories under the

brand name Maruti Genuine Accessories, or MGA, through their dealership

network. They seek to provide customers with the opportunity to customize

their vehicles with accessories such as music systems, security systems, car-

care products and utility products.They offer a two-year warranty on all their

vehicles at the time of sale.


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NEW BUSINESS INITIATIVES

As the largest manufacturer and leader in the small car segment, they continually seek

new ways to utilize their vast car parc, range of products and extensive sales and

service network to expand the size of the passenger car market in India. They have

recently launched new initiatives to develop the market for automobile insurance,

automobile finance, leasing and fleet management, and pre-owned cars. They aim to

provide customers with a one-stop shop for automobiles and automobile-related

products and services, and build on their wide customer base and extensive sales and

service network to make available to their customers a wide range of Maruti-branded

services at different stages of ownership, which they refer to as the 360 degree

customer experience.

Atithi Devo Bhava: One-stop shop

Inspired by the spirit of India. Atithi Devo Bhava, in Sanskirit, means a guest is like

God. It captures the Indian tradition of honouring guests. It's also the inspiration for

the welcome youll receive at a Maruti Suzuki dealership, and the caring relationship

they share with those who drive their cars. At Maruti Suzuki, you will find all your car

related needs met under one roof. Whether it is easy finance, insurance, fleet

management. services, exchange Maruti Suzuki is set to provide a single window

solution for all your car related needs.

That's why they have Maruti True Value, the best place to buy and sell reliable

used cars. Maruti Finance an agglomeration of the biggest finance companies in

India brought together by Maruti Suzuki to ensure that the dream car is withineveryone's reach. Similarly, Maruti Insurance brings together some of the

biggest names in the car insurance industry to provide insurance solutions to

every type of car consumer. Then, finally, there is N2N, which offers fleet

related solutions.


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THE PLAYERS IN THE INDIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Hyundai Motor India Ltd

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai

Motor Company, South Korea and is the second largest and the fastest growing car

manufacturer in India. HMIL presently markets 31 variants of passenger cars in six

segments. The Santro in the B segment, Getz in the B+ segment, the Accent in the C

segment, the Elantra in the D segment, the Sonata Embera in the E segment and the

Tucson and Terracan in the SUV segment.

The company recorded combined sales of 252,851 during calendar year 2005 with a

growth of 17.26% over year 2004. HMIL is India's fastest growing car company

having rolled-out over 970,000 cars in just over 80 months since its inception and is

the largest exporter of passenger cars with exports of over Rs. 1,800 crores. HMIL has

recorded a growth of 27.2% in exports over the year 2004.

The year 2005 has been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a

significant milestone by rolling out the fastest 200,000th export car. HMIL exports

to around 60 countries globally and recently made a foray into the highly competitive

UK market by exporting its first shipment of 820 cars.

Tata Motors

Tata Motors is one of the largest companies in the Tata Group with a total

income of US$ 2.35 billion. More than 3 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian

roads making Tata a dominant force in the Indian automobile industry.

Tata Motors is India's only fully integrated automobile manufacturer with a

portfolio that covers trucks, buses, utility vehicles and passenger cars. It would

be no exaggeration to say that Tata Motors provides the wheels for India's

growth.


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Tata Motors has the unique distinction of giving India its first and only indigenously

built passenger car - The Tata Indica and the premium feature sedan - The Tata Indigo.

The Indica, launched in 1998, reached the 2,50,000 sales mark within 52 months of

launch.

Tata Motors owes its leading position in the Indian automobile industry to its strong

focus on indigenisation. This focus has driven the Company to set up world-class

manufacturing units with state-of-the-art technology. Every stage of product

evolution-design, development, manufacturing, assembly and quality control, is

carried out meticulously. Their manufacturing plants are situated at Jamshedpur in theEast, Pune in the West and Lucknow in the North.

Ford India Limited

The Ford Motor Company has a rich legacy of translating better motoring ideas to the

roads. It has manufactured notable brands such as the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and theJaguar. It is among the top five industrial corporations in the world and is available in

more than 200 countries around the world.

Ford has entered the Indian market through a tie - up with Mahindra Motors to

manufacture the Ford Escort. A project that has been set up with a investment of

Rs.1700 crore. Ford India Limited is a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, currently

The Maraimalai Nagar Plant of Ford India Limited, located roughly 45k.m.from

Chennai, provides employment to over 20000 people..

At Mahindra's dealerships are present trained professionals who provide the

best levels of service in India. Its intensive manpower training, advanced

service equipment and dedicated consumer satisfaction are the are its plus

points which is being followed by the entire industry.


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General Motors India

General Motors India, incorporated in 1994 as a 50-50 joint venture company with theC.K. Birla Group of Companies, became a fully owned subsidiary of GM in 1999

when GMOC bought the remaining shares. The company was restructured in 1999 and

was converted from a Public Limited company to a Private Limited company. GM

APH LLC currently holds 86 percent of voting shares, and Holden (Australia) holds

14 percent. The SPO business was integrated with the main business in the same

company in 2000.

In India, GM strengthened its presence with new product launches Chevrolet Optra in

2003 and Chevrolet Tavera (Multi Utility Vehicle) in 2004. Similarly in 2004, GM

India is expected to register a growth of 90% over 2003. With sales volume going up,

the market share of GM India has gone to nearly 2%. The sales volume in 2003 was

15,155 units while 2004 figure is expected to be around 27,000 units. In 2004, the

company sold a total of 26,166 cars as against 15,155 cars in 2003 registering a

growth of 73% while overall passenger car growth during the year was only around

23-24%. These included 9191 Chevy Optras in Entry 'D' Luxury sedan segment, 8369

Opel Corsas and 8417 units of the new generation premium multi-utility vehicle

(MUV) Chevrolet Tavera.

Toyota Motor Corporation is the third largest automaker in the world. They

have 34 dealers in India and in Delhi they have 2 dealers, first one is South

Delhi Toyota and second one is in Moti Nagar in which I have visited during

my survey. Dealer in Moti Nagar which is Galaxy Toyota have predeterminedmission that-Customer comes first and everything they do is to meet their

customer needs, basically they work for creating a lifetime customer.

HONDA


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Honda is one of the leading manufacturers of automobiles and power products and the

largest manufacture of motorcycles in the world. They have 20 dealers in 42 different

cities around India. In New Delhi they have 6 dealers, I have visited one of them,

which is in Najafgarh Road.

They do surveys to know customers need. They target either existing or their

perspective customers by giving advertisement in the newspaper or through there

satisfied customers which give references. They dont believe on targeting

competitors customers because by not doing so they have such a brand reputation

with good quality products, only through this they are able to make good sales.

They display their models in 8th Auto Expo, which held in New Delhi. They are

now focusing on their new model Civic. Honda's Civic perhaps drew the

maximum attention. The reason is simple: Civic is a new car from the house of

Honda. During my survey I get to know that Honda City Model is the second

largest selling car in the C segment. They have a good superiority

They have Feedback form in which they take feedback of the customer as well as theirsalesperson because through this they are able to get the information of both the

customer & their salesperson that are they giving the full information to the customer.

This Dealership even provide technical skills and techniques to their employees that

how to deal with the customer thoughtfully every after 6 months.


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NEED FOR CRM IN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

The global automotive industry exhibits most of the characteristics of mature

industries and closely follows their business cycles. While vehicle industry sales have

been strong for the past several years, they have started to slow recently due to the

current global economic slowdown. Deteriorating economic conditions result in a drop

in consumer confidence, which quickly impacts automotive sales due to their big-

ticket status and the relative low cost of extending the life of an existing vehicle

through maintenance and repair.

The advent of the Internet as a research tool (75 to 80 percent of auto consumers

research using the Internet) has shifted power to consumers, further increasing

pressure on prices. At the same time, government regulation and consumer demands

for sophisticated features have increased development, production, and marketing

costs. Low-cost manufacturers are expanding beyond their home markets with entry

level vehicles, traditional passenger car manufacturers are expanding into the light

truck markets, and luxury manufacturers are moving down market with passenger carsand SUVs.

Relations between the car companies and their suppliers traditionally have been

difficult. In response to competitive pressure, suppliers have been forced by the car

companies to provide higher-quality components at constantly lower costs. The

resulting decrease in margins and the reduction in volume due to slowing sales have

increased the pressure to consolidate and forced some suppliers to the brink of

bankruptcy.

These difficult relationships have prevented car companies and dealers from

maximizing the lifetime value of their combined customers. There are few incentives

or efficient methods for dealers and car companies to share critical data, resulting in

ineffective management of product, service, and household information. In addition,

consumers receive conflicting marketing communications from the two groups, which

results in reduced brand value.


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KEY INDUSTRY MAIN POINTS

Decreasing sales and market share - The long-term battle for market

share continues to intensify. In the mature automotive industry, where

business cycles drive sales fluctuations, market share is critical to

survival. Consumers are less brand-loyal than in the past, and every

market segment has an increasing number of vehicle choices. To increase

sales and gain ground in the market share battle, companies must improve

their ability both to acquire first-time customers and to develop customer

loyalty to their current brands.

Difficult dealer relationships and a lack of dealer collaboration - As

the consumer 's primary touch point ,the dealer network is a critical

component of customer-facing operations. Therefore, the integration of the

dealer network is absolutely essential to improving the quality of the

customer experience. Car companies must take the initiative in

understanding the customer 's perspective throughout the buying cycle.

Lack of multichannel capabilities - With the advent of the Internet as a

research tool, the majority of customers are accessing the automotive

enterprises through several different channels. Many times, the switch

between channels happens very rapidly as a prospect or customer can view

a Web site, make a phone inquiry, and visit a retail store within days or

even hours of an initial contact.

Inefficient demand chain planning and high associated IT cost - Cost

reduction is an ongoing competitive requirement. Just as supply chain

management must be supported by a sophisticated information

infrastructure, effective demand chain management also requires the right


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supporting infrastructure, enabling car companies to fully leverage each

customer relationship through exceptional customer service, efficient lead

generation and management, and effective promotions and campaigns.

Lack of effective information sharing - Car companies must integrate

global operations in order to achieve the benefits of consolidation -cost

reduction, effective communication, and true integration of core

competencies. In addition, internal alignment between business units and

functional groups is required to create a unified view of consumers,

products, and services. Only by sharing customer information can

customer lifetime value be maximized among different groups.

Complex data governance requirements - Global automotive enterprises

have large, complex information technology ecosystems. While customer

information must be shared within this ecosystem in order to fully

maximize global operations, it must also be protected. Proper management

of customer information requires a sophisticated capability to manage a

variety of access rules and to accommodate legal restrictions that can

change very quickly.

Difficulty managing employee relationships - In today 's fast-paced

business environment, automotive companies need to ensure that their

most valuable asset -their employees -have immediate access to the

critical information, services, and applications required to be productive.

Organizations must enable employees to make better decisions, work

collaboratively, enhance customer relationships, and maximize productive

time.


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Target Marketing Procedure Of Various Companies

TARGET SEGMENT

To reach to rural and lower middle class consumers. They begin with

small concentrated markets appealing to local culture and aspirations of

the targeted area

STRATEGY

THEIR STRATEGY IS TO CAPTURE THE RURAL MARKET BY

EMPLOYING WOMEN WHO BELONG TO THEIR LOCAL

COMMUNITY THROUGH WHICH THEIR PRODUCT CAN REACH

TO LOCAL CONSUMERS. THEIR STRATEGY IS TO PROVIDE

WORK FOR WOMEN TO CREATE AWARENESS AMONG

CONFINED CONSUMERS

Process

They started with Project Shakti in which their basic aim is to educate a rural person about

their products through women who belongs to their own local community and who can

communicate well in their language with them. In this way many educated women get work

in rural sector and on the other hand HLL Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) also

increases towards society by introducing educative programs for the benefit of the rural

sector

Mode of Communication

They reach to customers by giving advertisements in the T.V. or through radio,

through wall painting, or through promotional activities like weakly haats, mela or


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local bazaars and most importantly, their policies were flexible and they could adapt

to fast changing marketing situations.

Through Internet, E-mail usage, communication media like telephone and mail facility

this mode of communication is possible to a great extent. ITCs extensive India-wide

distribution network enables its greeting cards reach over12,000 multi brand outlets in

over 700 cities across the country. In the last three years, 10,000 greeting card designs

have reached these outlets with the help of ITC's web-enabled e-commerce model

Communication Model ITC markets

Opportunity

These days consumers are looking for convenience and instant gratification.

Communication media like the telephone and e-mail facilitate communication

to a great extent. But many greeting card sites are moving from a 'free' to a

'pay' mode. This could be an emerging revenue earning opportunity for content

providers.

Threats

'Expressions' which is a competitor of ITC in this segment is currently the second

biggest greeting card brand in India with a market share of 20 per cent. ITC has a five

per cent share in the stationery market. The greeting card market in India is estimated

to be around Rs. 250 crore in terms of yearly consumer spent. The unorganized sector

in the greeting card market will be close to 40 per cent. The organized sector,

controlling 60 per cent of the market, is divided between ITC, Archies and Hallmark.

While Archies has licensing agreements with international greetings brands


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FINDINGS FROM SURVEY

Total Number of Respondents: 15 Officials

Number of RespondentsMaruti Udyog Limited 5Hyundai Motors India Ltd 2General Motors 2Tata Motors 5Ford India Limited 1

Do you face problems in maintaining good and effectiverelationships with customers?

QuiteFrequently

Frequently Average Rarely

Maruti UdyogLimited

2 3 - -

Hyundai Motors

India Ltd

- 2 - -

General Motors - 2 - -Tata Motors 3 2 - -Ford IndiaLimited

- 1 - -

Quite

Frequently

33%

Frequently

67%

Average

0%Rarely

0%

Findings: According to the responses of the respondents it can be concluded that all

the respondents face problems in maintaining good and effective relationships with


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customers. With changing customer needs its quite obvious that maintaining good

relations with customers need an effort on part of the Dealers and Manufacturers.

How well can your company identify its end usercustomers?

Maruti Udyog Limited: According to the officials of MUL, the companys

endeavor is to be close to the customer, to anticipate and fulfill their needs.

They believe that the new business initiatives taken by MUL have expanded

the scope of this relationship. Maruti offers auto insurance, auto finance,

corporate lease and fleet management and resale of pre-owned cars in

partnership with its dealers. For the first time, car customers in India are

able to access these services through a one-stop shop, backed by the leader

brand. The way they look at it is that this will provide complete mobility

solutions to the Maruti customer. This also enables them to extend their

relationship with the customer beyond the point ofpurchase to the entire

ownership life cycle. Since these services play a vital role in the car

customer's ownership experience, the new initiatives enable them to offer

Maruti owners greater value, assurance and convenience.

Hyundai Motors India Ltd: According to the officials of Hyundai Motor

India is at a very exciting stage in India today. They are experiencing

tremendous growth - which is a true sign of enjoying customer confidence.

In order to strengthen their position further in the Indian market, they need

to continuously work on building their corporate reputation while

aggressively positioning their products. For HMI's focus and commitment to

the Indian automobile customers is of critical importance. Its been their

continuous endeavor to fulfill the entire spectrum of customer needs and

desires, across all socio-economic & lifestyle groups. They have therefore,

in just 6 years of HMI's young life, established nationwide sales & service

network, scaled up state-of-the-art manufacturing capacity, launched global-

standard cars in rapid succession and exported cars made-in-India across the

globe. Getz, a much admired lifestyle brand in Europe and elsewhere, is a


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step in the same direction and is a cutting-edge, addition to HMI's extensive

product portfolio.

General Motors: According to the officials at General Motors is positioned

as a mature and responsible car manufacturer, which offers great value-for-

money products to its customers. The company leverages its global

expertise to manufacture and market well engineered and safe products

through its well-established retail network that provide an excellent

ownership experience to its customers.

Tata Motors: According to the officials of Tata Motors the foundation of the

companys growth over the last 50 years is a deep understanding of

economic stimuli and customer needs, and the ability to translate them into

customer-desired offerings through leading edge R&D.

Ford India Limited: According to the officials of Ford India has reaffirmed

its commitment to enhancing the purchase and ownership experience for its

customers with the rollout of Ford Brand@Retail concept across the

country. Ford India has been revamping all dealerships under the Ford

Brand@ Retail, a global corporate identity program to offer a world-classpurchase experience to the customer. Ford India continues to expand its

distribution network and will grow to 115 dealer outlets in 79 locations by

the end of 2005. The officials also mentioned that Ford India provides

training support to dealers in areas including customer satisfaction, sales,

technical and non-technical aspects of the business and in the financial

management of the dealership.

Can your company differentiate its customersbased on their value to you and their needs fromyou?

Yes NoMaruti UdyogLimited

5 -

Hyundai MotorsIndia Ltd

2 -

General Motors 2 -Tata Motors 5 -


59/81

Ford India Limited 1 -

Yes

100%

No

0%

Findings: According to the respondents (officials) at all the Five Automobile Majors

their company was able to differentiate its customers based on their value to them and

their needs from the company. This is important for the automobile industry because

the dynamics of selling cars is changing and manufacturers and dealers who fail to

meet the rising needs and expectations of their customers will lose out to those who

can. Buying a new car is an experiencecustomer will remember for a long time and

ensuring that this experience is a satisfactory one is essential in building brand loyalty

and customer advocacy.

How well do you interact with your customers?

Maruti Udyog Limited: According to the officials of MUL, their overall strength

lies in building an organization that is sharply focused on the voice of the

customer. Maruti's consistent performance over the past several years has resulted

in a steady increase in the percentage of its customers who say they intend to

remain loyal to the brand. n order to be closer to the customers, it is essential that

we should have multiple avenues of one-to-one interaction with our customers.

As a major step in this direction they have started Call Center service with toll-free


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number for the people of National Capital Region in year 2000. This service,

named Anytime Maruti, is now available nation-wide. Customers in over 700

cities/towns across India can contact them any time during the day and all days

of the week. The toll-free service is 1800 1800 180, it is accessible from any

fixed-line or mobile phone of BSNL/MTNL network across the nation. The

Anytime Maruti Call-center can also be accessed using telephones on other

networks by dialing 09811801515 (not toll-free). The objective of this service is to

ensure that customers have quick and easy access to all information on their

models, prices, dealers, value added services, finance options, and the locations of

our numerous service stations. Anytime Maruti helps customers to learn moreabout their Maruti Cars and also about other services offered by Maruti. For

prospective buyers, Anytime Maruti can help them deciding amongst various

Maruti Models and benefits of buying from Maruti.

Hyundai Motors India Ltd: According to the officials at HMI The Company

has set up more than 70 dealer workshops that are equipped with the latest

technology, machinery, and international quality press, body and paint

shops, across the country, thereby providing a one-stop shop for a Hyundaicustomer. Hyundai also has a fleet of 78 emergency road service cars -

specially equipped Santro that can provide emergency service to all its

customers anytime, anywhere. The customers can also call on 1800-11-4645

(Toll Free - Only from MTNL & BSNL numbers)

011- 26924645 (For all GSM Connections / Landline other than MTNL &

BSNL numbers) for any queries & customer complaints.

General Motors: According to the official at GM, to bring greater value and

service to customers, they have introduced the GM Service Plus a unique

cluster of services, designed to compliment every aspect of owning a car

and ensuring complete peace of mind. So be it emergency assistance, an

urgent car servicing or even sourcing genuine accessories, Customers can be

assured of yet another great moment from General Motors. For any car

related query or emergency requirement, customers can call 24-hour

assistance at 30308080. The unique 3-hour service programme comes with a


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promise of servicing your car in just 3 hours, or you get the service free.

With their 24-hour workshops, customers can now conveniently get their

car serviced, when they use it the least. Widespread sales and service outlets

across the country ensure that you have the assurance of great service

wherever you travel in India.

Tata Motors: according to the officials of Tata Motors the company has

strengthened its distribution and customer care network and today has 77

dealers and 230 authorized service outlets spread across 119 locations in

India.

Ford India Limited: According to the officials at Ford solutions aims to

provide quality, peace-of-mind products for the customer and embodies a

brand synonymous with its ability to provide products that can be tailored to

suit one's individual needs. Ford Solutions serve to develop products for

Ford and the Dealer body that enhance customer satisfaction. When your

vehicle needs a repair or a component replaced, you need Quality Care

service. Your Ford Dealership is simply the best place to have your vehicle

serviced. Brakes, shocks, batteries or anything your vehicle may need, yourdealership is the place to get it. Customers can place a online service

request at Ford.


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How well does your company customize its products and services

based on what it knows about its customers?

HighlyCustomer

centric

SomewhatCustomer

centric

Not Customercentric

Maruti UdyogLimited

5 - -

HyundaiMotors India

Ltd

2 - -

GeneralMotors

2 - -

Tata Motors 5 - -

Ford IndiaLimited

1 - -

Highly Customer

centric100%

Somewhat

Customer centric

0%

Not Customer

centric

0%

Findings: All the officials of the Automobile Majors agree that all products and

services are highly customer centric and based on the information they know about

the customers.


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Does the company have established quality assurance processes?

Yes No

Maruti UdyogLimited

5 -


2 -

General Motors 2 -Tata Motors 5 -Ford India Limited 1 -

Yes

100%

No

0%

Findings: According to all the respondents their respective companies have

established quality assurance processes.


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Does the company take customers' needs into consideration when

selecting and implementing technology?


5 -


2 -


Yes

100%

No

0%

Findings: According to all the respondents their respective companies take customers'

needs into consideration when selecting and implementing technology.

As per officials of GM the Tavera is a classic case of an India-specific product.

Though it is an international product, the car has been totally re-engineered for Indian

market requirements.

At Hyundai Segment-needs and budgets are specific and a suitable variant

strategy is inevitably required to meet different segment-needs and to be a

volume player in the segment. The variants are decided after considerable

research. They have been targeted at different segments and they presently

witness a healthy mix. As this segment evolves they rationalise the variant

strategy and add or delete variants to meet market requirements. They have put


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in place a customer contact programme where they interact with customers in

groups as well at an individual level at regular intervals to assess their needs

and overall experience with their product.

The typical Indian consumer looks for value and does not mind paying a little

more for it. Fuel efficiency, airconditioning and reliability along with ease of

service and low cost of ownership are major considerations during the purchase

process in India.

Does the company provide its employees with technology that

enables them to help customers?


5 -


2 -


Yes100%

No

0%

Findings: According to all the respondents the company provides its employees

with technology that enables them to help customers. Employee and Dealer

Training is a part of every company Customer Service Initiative. This enables

them to provide the customers with state of art products and service to

customers.


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Does the company maintain a strategy forcollecting and using information about

customers?


5 -


2 -


Yes

100%

No

0%

Findings: According to all the respondents they have proper information about their

most profitable customers. Companies use Informal Meetings, Sales Interaction and

calls to collect relevant information needed to maintain good customer relationship.

The most effective companies like Tata Motors use all the above while most of other

track the data during sales interaction. All the Automobile majors surveyed used CRM

software for tracking Customer Information. According to the officials Customer and

Supplier Feedback are gathered through Call Centers, Mails and Direct Interviews.

There are other methods too but the above three are the most cost effective.


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How effectively does the company combine informationon customers with its experiences to generate knowledgeabout its customers?

HighlyEffective

SomewhatEffective

Not Effective

Maruti UdyogLimited

4 1 -

HyundaiMotors IndiaLtd

2 - -

GeneralMotors

2 - -

Tata Motors 3 2 -

Ford IndiaLimited

1 - -

Highly Effective

80%

Somewhat effective

20%

Not Effective

0%

Findings: All the 80% officials of the Automobile Majors their company highly

effective in combining information on customers with its experiences to

generate knowledge about its customers while 20% said that the company was

somewhat effective.


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What steps has the company taken to improve the total experience

of its customers?

According to the Maruti Udyog Limited Officials: Sales experience is the

most important factor, accounting for 37 per cent of the SSI score, and

includes issues such as fulfillment of commitments and lack of hassles

during the sales process, overall honesty and integrity of the dealership

personnel and sufficient time to make the decision. Maruti entered the

Indian car market, to provide fuel efficient, low-cost vehicles, which were

reliable and of high quality. It also offered customers a friendly sales and

after sales service. With high customer satisfaction ratio and Total

automobile value these objectives shaped Maruti as big Giant in the field of

automobiles.

According to Hyundai Motors (India) Officials: Hyundai's big hit was its

compact family car named Santro which became a huge hit with its launch

and capture hearts of millions with increasing satisfied customers day byday. When Hyundai forayed into the Indian market it moved quickly to set

up a network of dealers and service stations - it has close to 260 of the

latter. Service was identified as a powerful differentiator to the way things

were done and word of mouth did the rest. It was one of the ways to keep

the Hyundai customer withinour fold. Also, these are advanced cars, which

can't be repaired by a corner mechanic. Hyundai offers service for less, it's

easily reachable and allows flexibility and customers appreciate that.Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) launched Achieve Q1P1 quality

campaign on March 24, 2006 primarily focusing on achieving the Global

No.1 Quality & Brand image. The campaign has been initiated across the

Hyundai vendor fraternity. This new initiative will strengthen the Vendor

quality organisation and will ensure the major part quality improvement

such as Six Sigma Activity, training and improve the Tier 2 suppliers. The

campaign will also help the suppliers to improve their 3C5S (3C Correct

Container, Correct Quantity & Correct Location and 5S Sorting,


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Systematizing, Shining, Standardizing & Self-Discipline), TPM (Total

Productivity Maintenance), benchmarking activities and upgrade quality

systems.

According to Ford India Limited officials: Presently Ford is offering seven

different models, Ford India Limited (FIL) is catching up fast with the Indian

co

Documents

20068971 Maruti Udyog Limted Study of Marketing Strategies Mkt